CHAPTER II 



THE PERIOD FROM 1878 TO 1891 : FROM THE PASSAGE 



OF THE TWO TIMBER ACTS TO THE FOREST 



RESERVE ACT: WHOLESALE TIMBER 



STEALING 



Before entering into a discussion of the operation of the timber land 

 laws during this period, it will be necessary to examine carefully the 

 two laws of June 3, 1878 — the Free Timber Act and the Timber and 

 Stone Act. They were not only passed the same day, but may be 

 regarded in some respects as a single act with two parts, each pro- 

 viding timber disposal on a different section of the public domain.^ 



THE FREE TIMBER ACT, PROVISIONS AND INTERPRETATION 



The Free Timber Act of 1878^ provided that residents of the Rocky 

 Mountain states — Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, 

 Wyoming, Dakota, Idaho, and Montana — might cut timber on min- 

 eral lands, for building, agricultural, mining, or other domestic pur- 

 poses, subject to such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior 

 might prescribe. 



The main purpose of the act seemed clearly to be the granting of 

 free timber to miners, although settlers were included. Beyond this gen- 

 eral purpose, however, very little in the act was perfectly clear. It was 

 loosely and unskillfully drawn, and abounded in unnecessary and 

 indefinite phrases and clauses of the "and-so-forth" character. The 

 privilege conceded by it was limited to citizens of the United States, 

 "and other persons," resident in certain states, "and all other mineral 

 districts of the United States." It allowed "timber and other trees" 

 to be cut for building, agricultural, mining, "or other domestic pur- 

 poses," subject to such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior 



1 Nevada was the only state to which both acts applied. 



2 Stat. 20, 88. 



